Galactic With Chali 2na
Sunday, Sept. 28, Zilker ParkWhat do you get when you cross a 15-year veteran jam band with the rapper preferred by four out five frat houses? A WaMu tent full of flailing teens and twentysomethings screaming for New Orleans funk mob Galactic and Jurassic 5 emcee Chali 2na. After a 20-minute delayed start, the rubbery band stretched out on three loose funk instrumentals before the Chicago-born, Cali-based wordsmith’s deep baritone bounced over basslines on J5 hits “Quality Control” and “Jurass Finish First.” An original member of Ozomatli, Chali 2na is no stranger to rocking a live band as he demonstrated on “Think Back,” a collaboration from the Crescent City crew’s 2007 hip-hop-infused From the Corner to the Block. Chali 2na batted beach balls with the crowd while dropping surgically precise rhymes, but the set lost considerable steam when he disappeared for 20 minutes for more noodling from the fivepiece. More fish, please.
This article appears in October 3 • 2008.
